Category Archives: Beer Trips

For those times when you have to go out of your way to make something possible when extending your Beer Experience.

#26: Cat’s Eye Pub (Baltimore) (#15)

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A surprise trip for me today to the “Cat’s Eye Pub” in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jill and I were returning to DC from Atlantic City–we’d just seen Flogging Molly in concert at the House of Blues!  I said “Hey we’re going by that way!”  And, as usual, she said “Yes.” (Wow, she’s great!)  So, we headed to place #26 for me on the AllAboutBeer.com “125 Places to Drink Beer” list–it’s number 15 on the list.

I can see why this place is on the list.  Just from the outside you think “this place has character.”  You walk inside, and “Bam!” It is a definite throw-back pub.  Fantastic.  It has wood carvings, and murals, and model boats.  Everything you would expect out of an Irish Pub in Clipper City!  The mural in the pictures below depicts the “History of Ireland.”  It even has a printed description so you can read about it.

This place was voted a 2010 Best Live Music in Baltimore … as we were sitting there enjoying our drinks, the band started trickling in … the bartender told us these guys have been their house band for the last 25 years!  LOL!  Wish we could have stayed around to listen.  But on to the important stuff …

As you can see from the pictures above, there were about 40 beers/ciders on draft.  They had their own “Special Ale” which was an Amber … mighty tasty!  Here I am enjoying it …

They also had several of the Heavy Seas brews AND several of the specialty Sam Adams … the Noble Pils, etc.  Overall a very nice selection of session brews (Miller, Bud, etc) and a good mix of craft brews (and that’s not even talking about the bottled beer!)  I wrapped up my visit with the Heavy Seas Loose Cannon — an excellent IPA!

We both enjoyed the atmosphere and the beverages.  Afterwards, we walked around the harbor and took in some of the sights, like these mermaids.  Obviously, you have to polish the brass! <smile>

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

 

 

RFD (DC): A Tasting hosted by Bob Tupper

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On Wednesday, 16 Feb, a couple of friends and I attended a Strong Ale tasting event hosted by Bob Tupper at RFD in Washington, DC (Chinatown).  He used to host these sessions at the Brickskeller but moved it here when the ownership of the Brickskeller changed (the Brickskeller is now Bier Baron).

As should be expected, we showed up a little early and had a mini-tasting of our own before we started the Strong-Ale Tasting!

We ordered ourselves a sample from the extensive draft list at RFD.  We had (in order of tasting):

Port City Essential Pale Ale, Mad Fox Diabolik Belgian Strong Ale, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Dominion Millennium English Style Barleywine, and the Starr Hill Cryptical Imperial Stout.  I tried to order beers someone from Colorado wouldn’t normally have available.  Port City, the new brewery, is doing a very nice job.  I really enjoyed all of these beers.  The Starr Hill was good, but didn’t seem to match its style claim.  The Edmund Fitzgerald was wonderful.

Now, on to the tasting.  You can see the list here (with a couple of photos of Bob Tupper).

I will put up another post with my tasting notes on all 10 of these beers.  I do want to say that the 11-year old J.W. Lee Harvest Ale (provided by the brewer from Sweetwater Tavern) was amazing!  It is so nice to have these opportunities.  Here are the accompanying pictures–like I said, I will put together another post with my tasting notes.

Of course, when you’ve had a few strong ales, you always seem to have more fun wherever you are! <smile>

Beer Mentor

Savor Fest: Logo Contest!

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There’s this (pretty) new fest in Washington DC called “Savor.”  This is the (I think) fourth year the fest will be in existence.  My friends Ray and Bobby accompanied me to the second one in 2009.  It was awesome!  Here’s the link for the details: Savor

This fest is a great time AND a great venue (The National Building Museum).

This year, DC BEER is hosting a logo contest for SAVOR.    Since I have so much copious free time, I thought I’d try my hand at the logo design.  Woo Hoo.  Let me know what you think!

Beer Mentor

Trappist Beers Re-visited …

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I recently reviewed my posts from my Trappist Thanksgiving trip.  One of the things I covered was the number of Trappist Beers available–I wanted to re-visit this topic.

As a reminder, there are seven (7) Trappist breweries.  I visited 6 of them: Orval, Westvleteren, Westmalle, Achel, Rochefort, and Chimay.

I had a list of the beers they make, but I didn’t give enough detail.  Here they are again (with better detail):

Orval (1) – they make one beer.  It is my favorite beer of all time.  An interesting thing about this beer is that the “wild yeast” used occurs naturally in the “Valley of Gold.”  It’s just a great location!

Westvleteren (3) – They make 3 beers: Westvleteren 12, 8, and the Blond.  I was able to purchase all three of these beers the second time I went to the Brewery (to pick up my two cases of Westvleteren 12).  You can purchase them in the cafe “In de Vrede.”

Westmalle (2 to buy, 1 “Extra”) [see previous post] – They are the Dubbel, the Trippel, and the “Extra.”  The cafe across from the brewery is very nice: Cafe Trappisten.  In my mind, this was the most “modern” of the locations we visited.

 

Achel (5) – There were only two beers available to purchase from Achel at the time … the Blond 8 and the Bruin 8.   Apparently there are three others, two on tap at the Brewery (the Blond 5 and the Bruin 5) and an Extra.  This was the place that had the most extensive store on-site–the best selection of Belgian beer you will find anywhere (I think).

Rochefort (3) – Rochefort had 3 beers available — the 6, the 8, and the 10.  I enjoyed all of these beers … the were very crunchy! <smile>

Chimay (3 to buy, 1 to drink at Auberge) – the three from Chimay to drink/buy are the Blue, the Red, and the White.  The one at the Auberge is actually a “Witbier.”  It is very nice…

Konigshoeven (La Trappe) (7 to buy) – I wish we had been able to add this place on our travels…but we just couldn’t get it done.  We bought six of the seven beers available though.  They are: Blond, Dubbel, Tripel, Quadrupel, Witte, and Isid’Or.  The only one I couldn’t pick up at the time was the Bockbier.

So, the total number of Trappist beers (I think) is 26: 22 to buy and 4 to “drink on location.”  You can see in the picture I have 19 beers.  I had one more on location and then picked up 2 more from Westvleteren — So I’ve had a total of 22 of the 26 Trappist beers.  I need 3 more from Achel and 1 from Konigshoeven–I guess this calls for another trip!

Beer Mentor!

2011 “Beer Drinker of the Year” Finalist: Wynkoop Brewery

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Woooo Hooooo!

I made the finals for the 2011 Beer Drinker of the Year competition sponsored by Wynkoop Brewery.  I will be heading to Denver in February to compete “head-to-head” to see who takes home the prize.  This is the announcement I received (I took the other names out … I wasn’t sure if I should post them or not):

“Hello 2011 Beerdrinker of the Year entrants,

Our panel of experts has counted up the votes for the 2011 Finals.

The ten semifinalists are —- —–, James Clark, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —– and —– —–.

Congratulations! Seven of you will receive a lovely 2011 Beerdrinker of the Year Semifinalist shirt.   It’s a very fashionable piece of garb and an ultimate beer conversation starter.

Three of you will receive a Finalist shirt and be flown to Denver to compete in the Finals. Those three esteemed folks are James Clark, —– —– and —– —–.

Congrats to you three. We’ll see you in Denver soon.

Thank you all for entering this year’s search, and thanks for doing your mighty part for spreading the wonders of great beer in your communities.

We’ll have full details on the finalists soon at www.wynkoop.com.

Marty Jones

Wynkoop Brewing Co.

Denver, CO”

This is exciting!  I’m looking forward to the trip… not to mention that Wynkoop’s is on the “125 Places to Drink Beer” list … Yeah!

Beer Mentor

#s 21, 22, 23, 24: London “allaboutbeer” Trip!

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Recently I had the opportunity to travel to London and was able to visit 4 more places on the allaboutbeer 125 places to drink beer list!  The locations, in order, were: #51 – The White Horse Pub, Parsons Green, #14 – The Market Porter, Stoney Street, #92 – Belgo Centraal, and #30 – The Olde Mitre Tavern, Ely Court, Hatton Garden.

What can I say!  Wow!  These places were all worthy additions to the list (I think).  If I were to rank them on this trip, I would say 1) White Horse, 2) Old Mitre Tavern, 3) Belgo Centraal, and 4) The Market Porter.  I’m sure if the times/dates I went were different I might change the order.  However, since this was my trip, I’ll talk about them (briefly) in this order.

1) The White Horse Pub.  An excellent pub.  Their beer menu is extensive (they had Westvlteren on their menu), I had the best Bitter I’ve ever tasted there (Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter), and I ate dinner here (Roasted Duck).  Wow.  Nice staff, great location–highly recommend it.

2) Ye Olde Mitre Tavern.  Any place established in 1546 deserves a visit from me!  We actually took a cab to this place — thank goodness!  The cab driver pointed down what looked like a sidewalk between two buildings … it was a very narrow alleyway … leading to this building!  The beer was excellent, but you go to this place for the locale!

This was the entrance to the alleyway … looks like a doorway …

3) Belgo Centraal.  This place was all about the Belgian beer (and food).  Once you get in this place, you realize all the wait staff are dressed in monk costumes!  Awesome.  We had dinner here … wow!  The food was great and there was a fantastic selection of Belgian Beers!

4) Finally, the last place on my list (but second visited) is The Market Porter.  I liked this place (a lot) but because I went there myself, and it was very close to closing time, I think this one deserved more of a chance.  Next Time!!

Yep … and then I had to take the London Tube back to the hotel … sweet!

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

#20: Deloween! Dogfish Head Brewpub (#91) + Brewery!

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Once again my beautiful bride accompanied me to my next destination on my list of “pubs.”    We decided to make a weekend of it (over Halloween this year) and went to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for what we call “Deloween!”  I convinced her to travel to both the Dogfish Head brewery in Milton AND the original Brewpub (#91 on the allaboutbeer list).

This is the outside of the brewery in Milton, DE.  The owner bought this treehouse from the artist … the style is steam-punk.  I thought it was pretty cool!  What was more cool was having the opportunity to see the inside of the brewery.  Here are a few candid shots of the inside.  Specifically, if you are a dogfish fan, you can see “Sir Hops Alot” plus some candid shots of equipment and ingredients … all quite interesting.  Additionally, the tour guide was quite knowledgeable …

From the brewery in Milton, we went to the Brewpub (original location) in Rehoboth Beach.  Here are some shots of that locale … you can see hops growing on the side of the building …

Here is a shot of the inside.

Yeah … it was good!

It just so happened that it was also Sea Witch Festival in Rehoboth Beach.  Cool.  We stayed at the Bewitched Bed and Breakfast … and strolled on the beach.  All in all, a great weekend!

Oh, and I took in a good haul of “goodies” at the end … a new bike jersey … plus they are making “distilled beverages” now … so we bought a bottle of Vanilla Vodka on site.

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

Mad Fox Brewery

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In a previous post, I had mentioned Mad Fox Brewery and that I planned on visiting.  I finally did … I made a mistake on what beer I tried at the NoVA fest (I got the name/style wrong) but I didn’t make a mistake visiting this new brew pub: here’s their link.

As soon as you walk into this place, the first thing you notice is the smell! Awesome!  You get that nice “wort” smell from a brewery … I can’t remember what they had been brewing but it was wonderful!  The bar/restaurant setup is great — loved the atmosphere.  Folks were very nice.

Was able to get myself a sampler (and a couple of more <smile>) …

Their American Pale Ale (from the cask) was wonderful.  Highly recommend that one — also, the Kolsch is nice, die weisse bier, the 80 schilling, and the Porter were all excellent as well.

Definitely worth a trip to Falls Church …

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

#19: The Dubliner (Washington, DC) (114)

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Getting closer to my magic 25 for this year … only 6 more left in 2010 … can he do it!

This place is right outside Union Station on Capitol Hill.  Here’s a couple of shots of this wonderful building (Union Station).

The Dubliner is in the bottom of this hotel … so you can have a few and then have place to stay … sweet!

The Dubliner has been serving the DC area since 1974 … and they do get it right … from the wonderful Irish Food to the great beer selection–I can see why this one is on the list!  Go ahead, give it a try!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

#18: The Gingerman, Austin, Texas (110)

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This past week I was in Texas and had the opportunity to drive through Austin.  I checked out the list of 125 Places to Drink Beer (see earlier post) and realized The Gingerman was on the list at number 110.

Of course, I keep looking at this list as a ranking … I know, I shouldn’t … but then I think — this place should not be number 110 … it should be higher!  Then, I just laugh … because, it doesn’t really matter.  This place is awesome!

Their beer selection had both my favorite Weizen Bock (Aventinus from Schneider-weisse) and an excellent range of Texas brews.

I tried a brew from the 512 brewery in Austin … surprise, their IPA!  This beer was quite pleasant — definitely a West Coast variety IPA (in my opinion).  Well balanced, but the hops really come through … I thoroughly enjoyed it and would drink another if possible …

Oh, they also have a beer garden … but it was a little too warm this day — maybe another trip!

This is place #18 off the list for me … only 7 more to go this year!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor